Instant Ocean BIO-Spira (Bacteria in a Bottle) - Snake Oil or Does it Work?

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I added a Bottle of BIO-Spira Today.

I will post the results.

I added the Bigger Bottle (For 75 Gallon Tanks) to my 45 Gallon so I got Extra Beneficial Bacteria as well.
 

Jeffys

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More of a fan of DR Tims. However this works in a pinch
 

Kungpaoshizi

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Iirc Dr. Tim was the original creator of bio-spira? Then he broke off and made his own?
 

grim1reaper72

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Worked great! The tank will still go through some cycling but I have 6 assorted fish in my 3 week old tank with Kenya Tree Coral and everyone is doing great!
 
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So after adding the Bottle of BIO-Spira I tested the Water a Day Later.

Ammonia Dropped from 1 to 0.5
Nitrites shot up to 5+ from 0
Nitrates went from 0 to 5/10

A Day after that

Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 5+
Nitrates - 20

I had Ammonia for quite a while so I cannot be sure if it would have done that anyways or if the BIO-Spira actually helped.

If my Nitrites Drop to Zero whithin a couple of days I will thank the BIO-Spira.

I wish I would have added this Day 1 instead of Day 18 so I could have reported better results.

I will add it Day 1 for my Next Build though for sure.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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neat thread these are the details that stuck out to me:

regarding efficacy of bacteria in a bottle, consider that all your tap water, even if your region varies in chlorination levels or chems to sterilize, is pumping out live nitrifiers and several strains of mixed bacteria into any item you put sinkwater in. your cup of lemonade etc has nitrifiers in it because they are so dispersed and so resilient. they then soon die, because its lemonade heh and a rascal pH not that a glass full of sugar is offensive to them. it is true the tap is less inclusive of bacteria than non treated, but only less.

Though it may not keep on the shelf as long, i guarantee anyone that simply shooting tap water into a little bottle and claiming it can help cycle a tank is accurate, if adding live nitrifiers is of any help (and they would have got in even if you didnt add a single thing at any time, again we just affect time to ramp up here)

that fact to me alone implies packaging them in a nice dark bottle to live on cellular mass reserves for a predicted and studied amnt of time is totally easy, and we also have a nice formal study to confirm:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2014/8/review

why are they in my tap? it has chlorine/amine, no ammonia, hot and cold cycles, cycles with no use at all, how do they get food?!?!
they are insulated for those cycles, and they do get plenty of food.
- that little black rubber ring on your faucet output is slimy and filthy and a catch all mix of slime, and a prime source of your nitrifier output from sinks. pipe scum in the pipes as well. combined forces...

several strains of bacteria that are there because sterilization is not complete

when scums and bacteria mix in a community, just like algae, they become self supporting in many ways. Why should some nitrifiers stuck to the scum in our 42 yr old delivery piping to our homes be starved if his aerobic and metabolically unrelated buddy dies right next to him and leaks ammonia for nitrifier to eat :)

what if -some- nitrifiers die while they are packaged in the for sale bottle, is that all bad to the ones who live? when bacteria die and deaminate and rot, they are micro ammonia producers, which is why mixed aerobes/nitrifiers in the real world always come with other strains at the same time. only the bottles give us pure strains, the rest we get as lumps along with wanted and unwanted strains.


the key is bacteria are so awesome we only -think- we control them, but what we really do is impact timescales, not overall effect from the bacteria. its not that Dr Tims, or spira, or brightwell or any of them differ much, its that its been incredibly easy to keep bacteria of all strains alive in some packaging fluid much less pure water for a very long time.

All those people that got recently got blasted w e.coli 0157h-7, the bad one i worked with for many years, from the drinking bottled water contamination snafu got their gut bacteria woes from a cold clean bottle of water registering nothing like the native environ that bacteria comes from, a gut. they just stuck it out having hopped the train from something's gut to the "pure" drinking water we'd think wouldnt be able to support them.

if somethings not autoclaved /medicated, it supports some bacteria usually. when you garden and come inside to wash hands, you still leave some up under rims of fingernails, chock full of nitrifiers, and you spread them too. we are helpful nitrifier vectors too lol.
 
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So I do not think that the BIO-Spira did anything.

I had 9 Days of Ammonia and 7 Days of Nitrite.

Now I did add it late (Day 18) instead of on the First Day.

Also, maybe it sat on the shelf too long at the LFS?

I checked the Date and it was Not Expired.

Next time I will buy Dr. Tim's because everyone claims it is better and see how that works and post my findings as well.

So anyways it is now Day 29

I just did a 70 Percent Water Change.

I will retest everything in an hour when it is less cloudy.

If everything checks out then I will start adding Coral (Finally).
 

trapstars

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ive heard it works. i used atm colony. it was down to atm colony and spira and i pretty much flipped a coin. i really went with colony because its a bigger bottle. but it worked great and ive heard testimonials about spira working and being very effective as long as your starting parameters are correct. good luck and keep us updated and post pics when you get it up and running
 

Jon Schuch

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I have a Question regarding bio Spira. I added a bottle to cycle a 75 gallin tank roughly 24 to 48 hours and then added 60 lbs of Florida gulf rock for 2 weeks. I have replaced rough 15 gallons of water then added another 30lbs of live rock after and topped the tank off with another 10 gallons or so. Should I be adding anymore of this bio Spira considering I have replaced about a 3rd of the water and the ammonia has come up slightly? Diatoms also came and went with the 1st batch of rock but are now back with the 2nd batch.
 

Devaji

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I have a Question regarding bio Spira. I added a bottle to cycle a 75 gallin tank roughly 24 to 48 hours and then added 60 lbs of Florida gulf rock for 2 weeks. I have replaced rough 15 gallons of water then added another 30lbs of live rock after and topped the tank off with another 10 gallons or so. Should I be adding anymore of this bio Spira considering I have replaced about a 3rd of the water and the ammonia has come up slightly? Diatoms also came and went with the 1st batch of rock but are now back with the 2nd batch.

wow you revived and old thread..lol
search for the dr.reef thread on bac, in a bottle he did many tests on them with a ton of info.
good luck
 

brandon429

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Jon you are fully cycled, not partially cycled, complete, can reef due to three specific reasons in your post

biospira is ready in five days per Dr Reefs thread regardless of whether or not api says it is zero ammonia, api is usually wrong

live rock. Doesn’t need any cycling it’s ready, and brings all bac


the wet pack sand likely used, triple inoculation source, done.
 

Jon Schuch

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Jon you are fully cycled, not partially cycled, complete, can reef due to three specific reasons in your post

biospira is ready in five days per Dr Reefs thread regardless of whether or not api says it is zero ammonia, api is usually wrong

live rock. Doesn’t need any cycling it’s ready, and brings all bac


the wet pack sand likely used, triple inoculation source, done.
The guy at Live Rock n Reef recommended I cycle my tank with bio spira before adding the live rock so that is what I did. I am on 2 weeks with the first 60 lbs and 3 weeks with 90 lbs. I also have some lower grade rock in there, so probably sitting at 105lbs of rock now. I have a couple peppermint shrimp hoping the would take care of the Aiptasia the rock came with as well as some snails, and emerald crabs otherwise not sure what to do from here...lol waiting on a filefish from blue zoo as well as more peppermint to eat this aiptasia but its been a wait probably another week they say.
 

Jon Schuch

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The guy at Live Rock n Reef recommended I cycle my tank with bio spira before adding the live rock so that is what I did. I am on 2 weeks with the first 60 lbs and 3 weeks with 90 lbs. I also have some lower grade rock in there, so probably sitting at 105lbs of rock now. I have a couple peppermint shrimp hoping the would take care of the Aiptasia the rock came with as well as some snails, and emerald crabs otherwise not sure what to do from here...lol waiting on a filefish from blue zoo as well as more peppermint to eat this aiptasia but its been a wait probably another week they say.
Oh and yes I did use live sand also.
 

brandon429

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It’s time to reef, cycle was done when you set any degree of live rocks in the tank, if you added bioloading then the dry surfaces wouldn’t matter, any degree of live rock transferred to a new tank skip cycles and handles all bioload, it doesn’t mini cycle unless it’s mailed from ocean sources. Tank to tank transfers of live rock never causes spikes. It skip cycles quick
 

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Jon Schuch

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It’s time to reef, cycle was done when you set any degree of live rocks in the tank, if you added bioloading then the dry surfaces wouldn’t matter, any degree of live rock transferred to a new tank skip cycles and handles all bioload, it doesn’t mini cycle unless it’s mailed from ocean sources. Tank to tank transfers of live rock never causes spikes. It skip cycles quick
This rock was picked from the ocean and next day aired that day. The bio spira was added to the tank to cycle a couple days prior to adding the live rock to decrease the amount of die off that may occur when adding that much life. This is what Live Rock n Reef to me anyway. So with all that being said now I know I definitely don't need to add anymore. Thank you!
 

brandon429

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I see, uncured ocean rock agreed will cure. best diversity of bacteria and higher pods coming in, no bottle mix could match the variation/good start for a food web. Chances of getting dinos is lowest in this condition
 

Jon Schuch

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I see, uncured ocean rock agreed will cure. best diversity of bacteria and higher pods coming in, no bottle mix could match the variation/good start for a food web. Chances of getting dinos is lowest in this condition
What are dinos? Lol. Sorry kind of new to this stuff. Seems as no amount of knowledge is enough. Cramming as much as I can learn in a short time. And thank you for all of your answers!
 

Thaxxx

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What are dinos? Lol. Sorry kind of new to this stuff. Seems as no amount of knowledge is enough. Cramming as much as I can learn in a short time. And thank you for all of your answers!
Hopefully with all that live rock to start your tank, you'll never need to know what dinos are.
 

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